Congress must show gratitude to military

Dec 23, 2014 | 5:28 PM

The Pentagon is seen from a satellite in 2000. (AP)

Congratulations to Congress for having enough foresight (and cooperative spirit, for once) to pass legislation that will create a separate fund, outside the regular defense budget, to build the next generation of ballistic missile submarines. The current Ohio Class "boomers," whose mission is to hide deep below the ocean's surface and await orders to fire their nuclear warheads, is aging and soon will not be able to do the job.

But with sequestration squeezing the defense budget more and more each year, it became apparent to the Navy that this war machine — by far the most important in our arsenal — cannot be funded by usual means and needs its own program and funding. As it is, this year Pentagon brass had to cut pay raises and benefits just so they could keep their billion-dollar high-tech programs.

Advertisement

But here's an idea: Maybe members of Congress can authorize a second separate program — this one to fund staffing for all its military needs now and in the future. Then instead of being forced to choose between shiny new (unnecessary) toys and the men and women who actually do the job, they can let our military know they're appreciated and serve us proudly.